Guides · Google Ads
Performance Max: How It Works and the Settings We Change
By Josh Croom · October 27, 2026 · 12 min read
Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that runs one budget across Search, Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Discover and the Display Network, and Google's AI decides where each ad shows. Run it next to your Search campaigns, with real conversion tracking and a full set of assets, and turn off the defaults that let Google write your text and pick your pages.
An ad you never wrote
Monday, 7:30 AM. A shop owner opens Google Ads with his coffee and finds a headline he's never seen, on an ad that sent a click to his hiring page.
Nobody broke into his account. He launched Performance Max on Google's defaults, and two settings start switched on. One lets Google write extra headlines from his website, and the other lets Google send a click to whatever page on his site it thinks fits the search best.
Both settings sit behind a checkbox in the campaign settings. Changing them takes a few seconds, and it decides which words and pages his money pays for.
What Performance Max is
Performance Max is a goal-based campaign. You give Google a goal, a budget, the pieces of your ads and a few hints, and Google's AI picks the bid, the place and the ad for each auction.
One campaign can reach all of Google's ad space: Search, Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Discover and the Display Network. You don't write finished ads. You upload headlines, descriptions, images, logos and videos, and Google puts them together in the shape each place needs, from a text ad on Search to a short video on YouTube.
Google built it to work alongside keyword-based Search campaigns, not to replace them. Search is where you choose the keywords and write every headline yourself, and Performance Max adds reach on top of that.
You give up some control for that reach. You can't set a bid for each search or pick each site your ad shows on, so your conversion goals, assets, pages and search themes count for more.
How it picks the searches it shows on
On Search, Performance Max reads your search themes, your assets and your landing pages to judge which searches fit. Then it competes with your own Search campaigns under rules Google publishes.
Search themes are short phrases you add to each asset group to tell Google which searches you want. Google lets you add up to 50 per asset group, and it gives them the same priority as broad match keywords in a Search campaign.
When a search reads word for word like one of your search themes or broad match keywords, that theme or keyword beats one that only comes close. Otherwise Google picks the ad group or asset group whose meaning, keywords and landing page fit the search best. If two still tie, the one with the higher Ad Rank serves.
So write themes that fit the page each asset group sends people to, and keep each group's themes on its own topic. Two groups chasing the same searches only bid against each other.
Performance Max in our Grant accounts
Google Ad Grant accounts can run Performance Max now, and our Grants already spend part of their credit through it.
- 23%of Grant spend ran through Performance Maxacross our Grant accounts
- 3.2%of showings drew a clickon our Grant Performance Max campaigns
- 50search themes in every asset groupGoogle's limit, and we use all of it
How to set up Performance Max, step by step
We set up every Performance Max campaign in this order, because each step depends on the one before it.
Step 1
Get tracking right first
Performance Max bids toward whatever you count as a conversion. If that count includes page views or the same form counted twice on a paid account, it will chase more of them, so fix the count before you launch.
Step 2
Give each service its own asset group
Build one asset group for each service or program, and point each one at that service's own page. A roofer's repair group goes to the repair page and the new roof group goes to the new roof page, so every click lands where the ad said it would.
Step 3
Write 50 search themes for each group
Start with real searches from your search terms report, then add the other jobs and questions people search for that same service. Google's advice is to skip near twins like car and automobile, so each theme should add something new.
Step 4
Fill every asset slot
Google takes up to 15 headlines, 5 long headlines and 5 descriptions per asset group, plus up to 20 images and 5 logos of each shape. On a paid account, add at least one real video, because Google may make its own from your images when you don't.
Step 5
Set the location to Presence
Google's recommended option also reaches people who have only shown interest in your area. Choose Presence instead if your business serves a set area. It reaches people who live in or often visit your area, because those people can become your customers.
Step 6
Pick the goals on the campaign
Choose the conversions this campaign bids on, instead of taking the account default. On a Grant we use Maximize Conversions from day one. On a paid account we start with no target and add one after the campaign has learned.
Step 7
Decide on Google's two automatic settings
Final URL expansion lets Google swap your page for another one on your site, and text customization lets it write extra text from your pages. We turn expansion off for any business that wants calls and forms, and we turn both off where a wrong word would hurt.
Step 8
Add negatives, then leave it alone
Block the searches that will never become customers with negative keywords before day one. Then make no big budget, bid strategy or asset group changes for two weeks while the campaign learns.
Google's defaults, and what we change
Google's defaults
- Text customization on, so Google can write headlines from your website.
- Final URL expansion on, so a click can land on any page of your site.
- Location set to people in your area or interested in it.
- Conversion goals copied from the account default.
- A video built from your images when you don't add one.
What we set
- Text customization off where a wrong word would hurt, like a pregnancy center.
- Final URL expansion off for leads, and on for stores with cart and checkout pages left out.
- Location set to Presence, for people in or often in your area.
- Goals chosen for this campaign.
- At least one real video on a paid account.
The settings we use
We start every new Performance Max campaign from these settings.
| Setting | What we use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Asset groups | One per service, each to its own page | Every click lands where the ad said it would |
| Search themes | 50 per asset group, from real searches | Google gets more to go on about the searches you want |
| Text assets | 15 headlines, 5 long headlines, 5 descriptions | Google has more to build each ad from |
| Images | Square and wide, plus a logo | The ad fits every place it can show |
| Video | At least one on paid, none on a Grant | On paid, Google makes its own if you don't |
| Location | Presence | It reaches people in or often in your area |
| Grant bidding | Maximize Conversions, $329 a day | It puts the Grant to work on conversions |
| Paid bidding | Maximize Conversions with no target at first; stores use Maximize Conversion Value | It learns before you ask it for a cost |
| Conversion goals | Set on the campaign | It bids on the actions you choose |
| Text customization | Off on pregnancy centers | A wrong word costs more than extra reach |
| Final URL expansion | Off for leads and pregnancy centers; on for stores, with exclusions | A lead needs the page you picked |
| First two weeks | No budget change over 20%, no bid strategy change | It needs time to learn again after a big change |
| Judging results | 14-day windows | Daily numbers swing too much to read |
What a Performance Max ad can look like on Search
On Search, a Performance Max ad looks like any other text ad. Google builds it from the headlines and descriptions in the asset group, so each one has to read well alone and next to any other.
water heater repair near me
Performance Max on a Google Ad Grant
A Google Ad Grant can run Performance Max. On our Grants, it always runs next to Search rather than in place of it.
Google says a Grant's Performance Max may not serve everywhere a paid one does. On our Grants it shows on Google Search and Maps. A product feed adds nothing there, because shopping ads don't show on a Grant.
Google also leaves Performance Max out of the Grant's 5% click-rate rule, which it checks on the account's keywords. Our Grant Performance Max campaigns drew a click on 3.2% of their showings, and that reach came at no cost to the account's click rate.
Google asks for a daily budget of $329 or less on each Grant campaign, and we set Grant Performance Max at that number with Maximize Conversions. Our Google Ad Grants guide covers the rest of the Grant rules, and our Grant page shows how we manage one.
Reading the results without overreacting
Google says the learning phase typically runs one to two weeks and sometimes up to six, so the first few days of numbers tell you very little.
Every two weeks, read the search terms Performance Max matched. In Google Ads, open Insights and reports, choose Search terms, and pick the view for Performance Max. Block the searches that will never turn into a customer with negative keywords, which Google applies to Search and Shopping ads only.
Then see which asset groups get the spend, and find the headlines and images that do the worst. Swap out the bottom few and keep the rest, because changing everything at once makes it hard to tell what worked.
Our search terms study shows what people type before they call or buy, which helps when you write search themes and negatives.
Is your account ready for Performance Max?
Answer five quick questions. Your answers stay on your screen.
Does your conversion count include only the calls, forms, sales or other actions you want, each counted once?
Does each service you want to sell have its own page on your site?
Do you have a logo, real photos and enough to say for 15 headlines?
Can you leave the campaign alone for two weeks after it launches?
Will someone read the search terms and add negative keywords every two weeks?
You're ready. Build one asset group per service, write all 50 search themes, and launch it next to your Search campaigns.
You're close. Fix each question you answered No before launch, because Performance Max learns from whatever you give it on day one.
Hold off for now and start with tracking and your pages, because a campaign that bids on the wrong goal spends your budget chasing it.
Before you launch
Tick each one off as you go. Your ticks stay on this device.
0 of 8 done
How we run Performance Max for you
For online stores, Open Spots Store covers Google Shopping and Performance Max, with as many campaigns as you need, for $997 every 4 weeks, plus a $1,997 build, paid once, or $0 on the 13-cycle plan. The 13-cycle plan has no 30-Day Stop. Grants run on the Grant Guarantee: You pay half of the Grant money we put to work for you each bill, and never more than $750. Every plan is on our pricing page, and our online store page shows how we run Shopping.
If you'd like a second look at a Performance Max campaign you already run, or at whether to start one, book a call with Miguel. He'll go through your tracking and settings with you and point out what to change first.
Questions people ask
What is Performance Max in Google Ads?
Performance Max is a goal-based campaign type that runs one budget across Google Search, Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Discover and the Display Network. You supply goals, assets and hints, and Google's AI chooses the bid, the place and the ad for each auction.
Is Performance Max good for lead generation?
It can work once your tracking counts real leads and each service has its own page. Turn off Final URL expansion so every click lands on a page you picked, and run it next to your Search campaigns rather than in their place.
How many search themes can you add to Performance Max?
Up to 50 per asset group. Start with real searches from your search terms report, keep each group's themes on its own topic, and skip near twins that add nothing new.
Can you add negative keywords to Performance Max?
Yes. You can add them at the campaign or the account level, but they block Search and Shopping ads only, so they don't stop a video or display ad from showing.
Can a Google Ad Grant run Performance Max?
Yes. On our Grants it shows on Google Search and Maps, Google leaves it out of the Grant's 5% click-rate rule, and each campaign's daily budget stays at $329 or less.
See how we run Google Ads for your business
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